Monken: Jameis Fumbling Woes Toughest To Fix
March 5th, 2018
Fumbled about triple the rate of his rookie season
Logic rolled off the tongue of the Bucs’ offensive coordinator recently when talking about the nastiest habit of America’s Quarterback, Jameis Winston.
Bad decisions and Jameis go hand in hand, specifically the football choices that lead to Jameis giving away the pigskin like Publix bakery workers passing out sugar cookies with sprinkles to snot-nose preschoolers.
Yes, Jameis fumbled six times as a rookie, 10 times as a second-year player, and 15 times last year in just 13 starts and just over 11 games of total action.
The Bucs’ now full-time offensive coordinator, Todd Monken, chatted about Jameis in Indianapolis to the Sports Day Tampa Bay podcast. He sees interceptions — Jameis spreads those around, too — as a much easier fix than fumbles.
The take was simple. You can simulate throwing to covered receivers in practice and re-create much of the decision-making that leads to releasing a football; but you can’t approach dealing with fumbling issues at their core because Jameis doesn’t take any hits or pressure while scrambling in practice.
“The toughest part is with the fumbles. And what I mean by that is I think the interceptions are one of the easiest things to correct in some ways. The fumbles are the hardest things because there’s no real offseason where he scrambles and there’s people around him; No one touches him.
“I don’t think he’s bad at [pocket awareness]. It’s just, ‘Ok, I’m under duress. I either gotta throw it but I can’t keep it out here trying to make a play.’ That’s what happens. There’s someone around him and [fumbling] happens that way. Again, that all comes from the more you play in games. … Now he battles that because of how competitive he is. He’s not going down, like he hasn’t learned to go down. And it’s harder with athletic guys, you know. guys that can’t escape, don’t think they can. They just drop. Like Peyton Manning, he just used to drop and go to the ground. Jameis make some plays that way [by not dropping].”
Monken added that during final five games of 2017, when Jameis returned healthy, it was very clear his decision-making as a passer was much improved and more mature. But the fumbles and that related decision making didn’t follow along.
As Joe noted, Jameis’ fumbling is escalating over three seasons. Something has to get through. Perhaps that’s Monken, who did a strong job fixing Mike Evans’ K-Y hands after the 2015 season. It felt like the work of a faith healer.
As we learned, Monken’s voice in Jameis’ ear might be a huge part of his new role. If so, ball security has to be the No. 1 priority.
March 5th, 2018 at 1:38 pm
“Monken added that during final five games of 2017, when Jameis returned healthy, it was very clear his decision-making as a passer was much improved and more mature. But the fumbles and that related decision making didn’t follow along”.
Jameis threw 3 picks against the Saints, and the Saints defenders dropped another 2. How can Todd Monken make this statement? Wasn’t the Saints game in week 17, part of the final 5 games.
March 5th, 2018 at 1:39 pm
Publix and Jameis probably bad analogy
March 5th, 2018 at 1:41 pm
I can tell you how you could fix it a bit. Don’t put broke back mountain Sweezy and Donovan Smith on the left side.
March 5th, 2018 at 1:41 pm
Ninety-five yards, less than two minutes left in game, no timeouts. Game-winning touchdown pass.
Helps to watch games to the conclusion.
March 5th, 2018 at 1:58 pm
Sorry Joe, but one great drive does not cancel out all those turnovers….nice try though.
March 5th, 2018 at 2:00 pm
…..and he didn’t listen to his coaches on the throw to Godwin.
Yeah, he certainly is maturing.
March 5th, 2018 at 2:05 pm
I think the biggest difference from Winston’s 6 fumbles his first year to 15 in his third year, is the running game he had his first year. By that i mean since Winston was handing off much more, and having much better 3rd down distance for first downs, he didn’t have to hold the ball as long to make plays for first downs. I just think that if you give Winston any form of running game his overall game will improve greatly. A couple of upgrades on the offensive line wouldn’t hurt either.
March 5th, 2018 at 2:13 pm
How to stop JW from fumbling –
1. Play with a lead….
2. Have a winning record.
3. Have a running game.
I believe that JW is becoming desperate to win as the losses keep mounting and has a tendency to do “something” to win and thats the reason for fumbling…
March 5th, 2018 at 2:15 pm
chipbuc nailed it…the real killers here are no running game and over reliance on long developing routes. Both exposed Jameis to increased presssure (figurative and literal). The fact that the HC/OC continued to drop him back 30-40 times a game behind a marginal OL and expected a different/positive outcome is beyond stupid.
March 5th, 2018 at 2:21 pm
Soe buc your problem is solved because Sweezy plays right guard and smith plays left tackle so they weren’t on the left side together. Wow your biggest reasoning for his fumbles doesn’t even exist. Go troll somewhere else FSU fan.
March 5th, 2018 at 2:23 pm
Get him a good offensive line!! Protect his blindside so he is not running for his life on every pass play. Get him a running game, which surprising to no one (except Koetter) begins with the offensive line. Also, get him a true center that can get him the snaps and make the right line calls. Marpet did better towards the end of the year but it was too late, Jameis had already lost trust in his line at that point IMO- he flushed the pocket pretty early in plays from what I saw.
March 5th, 2018 at 2:24 pm
Zero running game in 2017, ZERO!! Jameis will be much improved in 2018, Koetter will grow as a play caller as well. To think Jameis just turned 23 is amazing.
March 5th, 2018 at 2:36 pm
They’re not tough to fix, Jameis had no fumbling issue his rookie season when he had good offensive line play – but when you run a deep ball offense with no running game and bad offensive line play, and you have to wait longer for guys to get open, gee, I wonder what the outcome is going to be.
Also you have the BS like at the game at GB when Barber fumbled at the goal line, who got charged with that fumble? Winston. Because Barber bobbled the handoff and never had possession, Winston gets charged with a fumble despite the fact he didn’t fumble it. How many other fumbles that Winston got charged for weren’t actually fumbles? I don’t know, but that one stood out.
March 5th, 2018 at 3:07 pm
The long developing routes don’t help either – but part of the maturation of any QB is knowing when to say when. Jameis will get there,
March 5th, 2018 at 3:31 pm
I said this all season. Dirk Koetter once he crosses into the enemy 50 will put Jameis into zero sets, no protection at all and calls deep routes. This may make sense with Aaron Rodger and their Oline or Brady but not at all for JW. If you need proof just watch the Buffalo game, as soon as they ran play action with protection for JW he was lights the fk out! I gave copious praise to Koetter for the adjustment but of course this wouldn’t last. I know for a fact there’s problems between Koetter and JW, this is a major reason why. I forget the game but JW called an audible putting Simms back behind him and Koetter went ballistic. JW was getting creamed that game totally forget which game it was.
March 5th, 2018 at 3:32 pm
RUN THE BALL!!!!!!!!!….simple as that!!!!!!
#NOEXCUSESIN2018!!!!!….GO BUCS!!!!
March 5th, 2018 at 3:42 pm
Dooshlarue Says:
March 5th, 2018 at 1:58 pm
Sorry Joe, but one great drive does not cancel out all those turnovers….nice try though.
_______________
no but a win does 😀
March 5th, 2018 at 3:44 pm
Jameis NEVER had a problem with fumbles until last year, the year he had a jacked throwing shoulder … non-issue.
March 5th, 2018 at 4:09 pm
You want a quick fix to the fumbling issues? It’s called a glove and it works wonders.
March 5th, 2018 at 5:02 pm
Ninety-five yards, less than two minutes left in game, no timeouts. Game-winning touchdown pass.
Helps to watch games to the conclusion.
Okay, back to reality team JBF. How many games do you win in the NFL when your QB has 3 turnovers? You know the answer is not many so why try to hide it behind the mask of one good drive, which you also know the read was not to Godwin and to be honest was complete luck.
March 5th, 2018 at 5:17 pm
but but but… no blockers, no running game, bad coaching, a bad shoulder, but the receivers……..excuses excuses excuses…..wah wah wah……the friggin’ thing is even shaped like breasts on both ends!
March 5th, 2018 at 6:09 pm
Like I said before, with Jameis you are going to get a whole lot of good mixed in with a whole lot of bad. That’s just who he is and that’s how he plays. You just never know which there is the most of…
March 5th, 2018 at 6:26 pm
#excuses4winston
March 5th, 2018 at 7:11 pm
Hold lot of good and a whole lot of bad…hmmmsounds like the other so called elite players…the difference is they do not play for the BUCS…
SMH….
March 5th, 2018 at 8:52 pm
“Ninety-five yards, less than two minutes left in game, no timeouts. Game-winning touchdown pass.
Helps to watch games to the conclusion.”
Not if the conclusion of the game blows your preordained negative assumptions.
Some fans here went through all kinds of contortions to snatch defeat from the jaws of victories. That last game wasn’t really a thrilling come from behind win…no it was actually a loss because it cost us two whopping spots in the draft.
March 5th, 2018 at 8:53 pm
We should trade JW while he has some value.and draft one of the QB’s in this draft. We could probably get someone 1 and 2 for him . His turnovers are only gonna get worse as they have been.
March 5th, 2018 at 10:13 pm
Jaguars went to the AFC Championship with Bortles…..Winston is better then him with some upside left. We can win with him but he’s not carrying us like a Brees, Rodgers, Brady, Wentz, etc….Solidifying the line and RB position will do wonders, particularly the line when it comes to addressing the turnovers.
March 5th, 2018 at 11:36 pm
Improve the OLine, get a running game, and show JW film on QB ball security from the best.
March 6th, 2018 at 9:54 am
This should be a make it or break it year for Winston.